Tag: bishop

Very soon a Black Catholic Bishop named Steib will be coming to speak to my parish about a pastoral letter on evangelization he co-authored titled “What We Have Seen and Heard” because my parish is considered to be one of the 800 or so in the country that are predominantly African American. We are reading the letter in preparation for the talk, discussing it and it’s implications. It’s a pretty long letter and I’ll be reflecting on it in the coming days.

Very soon a Black Catholic Bishop named Steib will be coming to speak to my parish about a pastoral letter on evangelization he co-authored titled “What We Have Seen and Heard.” Because my parish is considered to be one of the 800 or so in the country that are predominantly African American, we are reading the letter in preparation for his talk, discussing it and it’s implications amongst ourselves. It has been very fruitful so far and I have been reflecting on it daily. The letter is pretty long so this will be a serial post. Let’s begin.
Part 1 of the letter is titled “The Gifts We Share” and talks about our call as black people to share our gifts. It enumerates them all. The first is our culture.

“At a news conference in Boston organized by a victims’ group, Mr. Costello, who said he was abused by a priest in West Roxbury, Mass., starting when he was 10, said he was shocked that the pope would talk about his own suffering and that of the church while making no mention of the harm done to victims.”

This is what started the problem in the first place. The concern for the institution of the church, consisting of the clergy mostly, is the top concern. I’m sure that there are legal and fiscal reasons as well for his lack of empathy, but it also reveals how screwed up the priorities are in “the Church.” It’s shocking that still they violate Jesus’ edicts so glibly and frankly, so arrogantly. But my Church has not spared any effort in trying to shake my faith. This but the latest example. How they can demand faith in them is beyond me.